End of a Legacy
by justmegaman
Summary: After a final fight with Bowser, Mario ends up fatally injured. And he has only one final request. MarioxPeach


Mario leaned his head over to the side of the bed and coughed loudly. Thick drops of red liquid splattered the bottom of a dustbin. Princess Peach cringed and recoiled. Medic T took it in stride, but still had a worried look on his face.

"Doctor? Is he-a okay?" Luigi asked with a shiver in his voice. Probably due to the fact that he was shaking something awful and his teeth were chattering badly.

"…Far from it," mumbled Medic T, looking resigned and sad. Luigi and Peach widened their eyes and looked at each other. Normally Peach would have burst into tears, but she was totally drained of them.

"Please…what are the specifics?" Peach asked. She suddenly spurted out a dry sob, unable to contain her sadness in full. Luigi rubbed her back and Mario looked at his fiancée weakly.

"Well…he was heavily damaged in that battle," explained Medic T, refusing to direct his eyes to Peach as he preferred to stare intently at the clipboard in his right hand. "Bowser's horn punctured two minor veins and grazed an artery in his leg. There's some internal bleeding because of this. We've tried a lot of tests. We can't do much of anything."

Tears suddenly flooded back to Peach's eyes, and she looked up at the doctor with pools of clear water waiting to gush forth. "I-Is he going t-to…die…?"

Medic T didn't answer. He just kept staring at his clipboard, not even glancing at Peach. The tears ran free and Peach cried loudly, going into a state of panic. Luigi looked over at his brother painfully, awkwardly comforting Peach by putting his arm around her shoulders. Mario gave him the best smile he could, his lips quivering as his dark brown hair hung low over his eyes.

"Calm down-a, Princess, calm down-a," whispered Luigi, continuing to rub her back and do his best to comfort her. He had to bottle up his own sadness while doing this. Where was Daisy when he needed her? Mario's heart monitor slowed down.

"We're doing everything we can." Medic T still averted his eyes from the princess. "There's about…a 25% chance that he'll pull through. I'm sorry, that's the best I can offer to you."

Suddenly, before Peach could ramp up the intensity of her bawling, a nurse burst into the room through the sterile white double doors. Her mouth was a thin line as she slowly gave Medic T a folder of important-looking papers. He shuffled through them and gave a look of genuine concern before nodding at the nurse and gesturing her out of the room.

"…I have bad news," was all a breathless Medic T could say as he shuffled through the papers over and over again. Peach rose her head up at the doctor, sniffling. Luigi continued to shake as he took his arm off of Peach's shoulders and looked at the doctor fearfully. They both sat on the edge of Mario's bed.

"Mario has minutes left." Medic T looked very pained as this slipped out of his mouth. "His injuries were…more serious than we anticipated. The artery was not just grazed. It was severed. And those veins were not…_too _minor. No, not too minor at all…" Medic T looked at Princess Peach for once, and he twitched suddenly when he saw her face. "I'm so sorry."

Peach just buried her face in her lap and sobbed quietly, tears pouring down onto her dress. Luigi and Medic T looked at each other, then at Peach, then at Mario. Mario looked troubled as he stared at Peach, a sad frown adorning his pale, deathly face.

"P-Peach," mumbled Mario, trying to sit up but unable to. Peach looked over at him, her face stained with many tears. "Come…here."

Peach slowly scooted up the side of the bed until she sat by Mario's head. She blubbered, "W-w-what is it…?"

"I have one last request," he mumbled, looking at her weakly. She pushed her hair behind her ears and gazed into his eyes. They stayed like that for almost a full fifty seconds before Mario tried to say something. His mouth was too dry to utter much of anything. The heart monitor became slower.

Peach shook him just a little, urging him on. He sputtered out some more blood, this time having no strength and no space to lean over and so simply coughing it down on the bed sheets. He shakily clutched his leg and looked up at his love.

"…Mari—" He rushed forward with all his might and pressed his lips up against hers. She was surprised but sunk into it, pressing forward as well. Luigi and Medic T looked on with nervous expressions.

The kiss never seemed to end. It went on and on and on and on and on until both of them thought they could stay like this forever.

But they couldn't, as the heart monitor reached a snail's pace. The kiss continued for a few seconds until Mario's barely opened eyes closed a little. Then they closed a little more, and a little more, and just the tiniest bit more until they closed in full. Then all the warmth drained from his body, and he slumped up against Peach, his face falling onto her chest.

The great hero, Mario, had bled out and died. The flatline indicated this.

Peach looked down at him gravely before grabbing his chin and putting his face back up against hers. She continued the kiss with Mario's lifeless form.

At this point, Luigi had to walk forward and bring her back into the real world. He clutched her shoulder and tried to drag her to her feet. She wouldn't budge, clutching the front of Mario's blood-spattered hospital gown. She would not let go.

"Peach, come on," Luigi said, with a little bit more force this time. Peach shook her head, her face still mashed up against Mario's. Medic T stepped forward as a few nurses came into the room, prepared to take Mario away.

"Princess. You have to let go of him," Medic T told her, grabbing the back of her dress and dragging her up with a lot more force than Luigi had. Peach separated from her hero, tears beginning to pour down her face once again.

"NO! I WON'T LET GO!" Peach screamed, struggling in the doctor's grasp. He was troubled on the inside but looked cold and calculating as he dragged Peach out of the room. Luigi followed behind him with a dark face.

Peach stumbled onto a bench in the waiting room as Medic T let go of her out there and strode back into Mario's room. An announcement went off announcing Mario's time of death.

Daisy, Toadsworth, and a visiting Rosalina looked shocked as they heard this, staring at Luigi and Peach. Peach didn't return the look to any of them, while Luigi nodded grimly at Daisy. She burst into sobs much like Peach had earlier. Luigi walked over to her to comfort her, leaving Peach alone on the bench by the door.

And that was just how she felt, no matter how many people were around.

Alone.

Without her beloved Mario, the one she was supposed to marry in just one month, she felt all alone. And nothing could help.

…_How depressing. o.o I'm personally a little surprised I wrote that…but I'm sort of starved for inspiration on my stories so I just wrote this to get some more. Hopefully it'll help._

_Reviews would be awesome!_

_~Of course you know it's like you should stay_


End file.
